Buddhist and Hindu Temples Essay

Buddhist and Hindu Temples Essay

1653 Words7 Pages

Hindu and Buddhist cultures are both rich in religion and expressing their faith through art. The Buddhist culture was formed by Buddha who went out to discover the causes of pain and suffering. Once Buddha realized what the cause was, he provided a set of four guiding principles know as the “Four Noble Truths” that are exercised in Buddhism (Kleiner, p. 13). The Four Noble truths are “Life is suffering, the cause of suffering is desire, one can overcome and extinguish desire, the way to conquer desire and end suffering is to follow Buddha’s Eightfold Path…” (p. 13). These truths are expressed in the following of Buddhism and commonly carried out through art. Buddhism is practiced throughout Southeast Asia and southern India where…show more content…

The stone fence surrounds the whole stopa to restrict the outside world from the sacred burial mound. The dome shape of the stopa represents the mountain of the world. The toranas are large stone pillars that are placed in the cardinal points of the stone fence, north, east, south, and west. Directly on top of the stupa sits the harmika. This harmika is a rectangle shape stone fence that represents an area of the gods. In the center of this harmika extends the yasti, a pole like structure protruding towards the universe representing the axis of the universe. There are three chatras that are pierced through the yasti. The chatras are stone discs that represent the union of the earth and the “heavenly paradise” (Kleiner, p. 15). The stupas are walked around in a clockwise manner by Buddhists because that is the same movement of the earth around the sun. This is known as circumambulation. The theory of circumambulation is that it “brings the devotee into harmony with the cosmos” (p. 15). This is the standard blueprint to which all stupas are constructed, thus allowing the Buddhists to circumambulate the structure. The Great Stupa of Sanchi is located in Sanchi, which lies in central India. The Great Stupa follows the same basic structure blueprinted for all stupas. What makes this one so unique is that it stands fifty feet high and has two different levels that are designed to be circumambulated. There are four gates that the Buddhists enter

the research paper ordered in class, I decided to visit a Theravada Buddhist temple. This temple is located in 15200 SW 240th St, Homestead, FL, Miami, and it is called “Wat Buddharangsi of Miami.”
Before visiting this site, I did some researches about the building of this temple. The design of the temple was conceived by Noppom Poochareon, an architect from Miami. He built this structure thinking in a refuge for the local Buddhist community. His vision for the sanctuary was a peaceful place, full…

today. I had never been to a Hindu temple before and it was a new and exciting experience. I did not know about the Hindu religion going to this project. During my time here in Dayton I have been to Lebanese festival and interacted with many people of Arabic descent. Hinduism as religion is very broad. Choosing to interview someone of the Hindu faith was an easy choice to make because I had always been interested in Hinduism. Some of my favorite movies had implied Hindu concepts in them such as karma…

Hindu and Buddhist Thought in Siddhartha
Siddhartha, set in India, is subtitled an "Indic Poetic Work," and it clearly owes much to Indian religions. But the question of the exact nature of Hesse's debt to various aspects of Indian religion and philosophy in Siddhartha is quite complicated and deserves detailed discussion. This essay will discuss the elements of Hindu and Buddhist thought present in Siddhartha and make distinctions between them.
"Siddhartha is one of the names…

Lama). The Eightfold Path is the teachings of being moral, being aware of our actions and thoughts, developing compassion for others, and most importantly gaining wisdom from the understanding of The Four Noble Truths.
I visited the Vietnamese Buddhist Center in Sugar Land this past Sunday and it was a sight to behold. The center was surrounded by a green metal fencing with some sort of crest or emblem that looked similar to an steering wheel on an old ship. Driving into the center, the main road…

important part of the society, plays a major role in understanding religion and religious practices. In this essay, I am discussing two patterns on a ritual at a Buddhist temple, based on my observations, and how they connect to gender-related religious theory. The ritual I attended was at a Buddhist temple named West End Buddhist Temple in Mississauga. It was based on meditation led by a monk, the male instructor. It started with a story of Buddha, the divine figure of the religion, followed by a…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflection on the field trip to the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. After a brief Introduction to the Context, the Watercress tool will be used to highlight my observations.
In our study of the Hinduism, the class visited The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago (HTGC). This active temple is a house of worship that serves thousands of devotees as they pay hamage to a diverse variuety of Idol and spiritual gods. Taughted as one of the oldest religions in…

From the Hindu Temple and Yoga service, surprisingly, the people I interviewed had a lot of similarities in their thoughts and responses. For Hinduism, rituals consist of visiting the Hindu Temple to chant prayers and participate in events such as singing Kirtans, songs in praise of God. Radhika Ramesh and Raje Sathasivam both stated they attend Hindu rituals because it helps them to connect with their religion and their community; most of the devotees can converse in Indian language and connect…

revisit a Theravada Buddhist temple that I once visited previously but rather briefly. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t visit the temple since it is a different religious practice than my own. This temple is called the Wat Florida Dhammaram. The name may seem bewildering to most people but I have learned what the name means. I found out at the temple that the word “Wat” in three different countries (Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos) is defined as a Buddhist monastery or temple. This temple differs in that it is…

I am Christian. Ironically, my mother is a converted Buddhist and although she is not a super devout one, it was helpful for this assignment. I explained my assignment to her and asked her to take me to a Buddhist temple / ceremony. I never thought this would be such a fascinating experience. We visited the “Wat Buddharangist of Miami” temple in the Redlands of Florida, which is a Thai Buddhist temple. At first I was a little uneasy because it was a new experience that I had not encountered…